1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the disposal of discarded rubber automotive tires and more particularly to a method of processing such tires for disposal and to the resulting product which is especially useful as an artifical fish reef.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Rubber automotive tires are a major disposal problem in the United States and most other developed countries of the world. It is estimated that nearly 200 million old tires are discarded yearly in the United States alone. Commonly such tires are discarded at organized trash dumps. However, many dumps do not willingly accept tires because of the large space they occupy and because there they remain a disposal problem. Many other used tires are simply discarded by unthinking persons in lakes, streams, and in the open countryside where they remain an unsightly blight indefinitely.
Other means of disposal include burning, but the dense smoke produced by the burning tires creates an air pollution problem.
Machines have been devised for cutting the tires into small pieces to reduce their volume and make them suitable for use as landfill. However, such machines are expensive, have insufficient capacity, and are not available in sufficient quantities to make any appreciable impact on the millions of discarded tires in existence.
Another approach to the problem has involved the compaction of stacks of tires into small compressed bales secured by baling wire, with the resulting bales being used as landfill. Machines for accomplishing this have been in production for several years.
Government fisheries agencies have found an additional use for such bales and individual tires in forming artifical reefs in salt water which have served successfully as fish habitats. However, such bales and tires are buoyant and therefore difficult to sink accurately and maintain at desired locations without drifting. To counter the effects of such buoyancy, the bales have been filled with concrete or other ballast. While this has solved the buoyancy problem, the ballast-filled bales are expensive and time-consuming to produce and are difficult to handle because of their great weight. Moreover, the air and polluted water trapped within the tire carcasses inhibits compaction of a stack of such tires in forming the bale for use as either landfill or fish habitats and the entrapped water creates a water pollution problem when the bales are placed in water.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved baled tire product for use as fish habitats, landfill and other desired purposes and for an improved method of processing discarded tires to form the bales.